Dracula eBook

At six o’clock Van Helsing came to relieve me.
Arthur had then fallen into a doze, and he mercifully
let him sleep on. When he saw Lucy’s face
I could hear the hissing indraw of breath, and he said
to me in a sharp whisper. “Draw up the
blind. I want light!” Then he bent down,
and, with his face almost touching Lucy’s, examined
her carefully. He removed the flowers and lifted
the silk handkerchief from her throat. As he
did so he started back and I could hear his ejaculation,
“Mein Gott!” as it was smothered in his
throat. I bent over and looked, too, and as
I noticed some queer chill came over me. The
wounds on the throat had absolutely disappeared.

For fully five minutes Van Helsing stood looking at
her, with his face at its sternest. Then he
turned to me and said calmly, “She is dying.
It will not be long now. It will be much difference,
mark me, whether she dies conscious or in her sleep.
Wake that poor boy, and let him come and see the
last. He trusts us, and we have promised him.”

I went to the dining room and waked him. He
was dazed for a moment, but when he saw the sunlight
streaming in through the edges of the shutters he
thought he was late, and expressed his fear.
I assured him that Lucy was still asleep, but told
him as gently as I could that both Van Helsing and
I feared that the end was near. He covered his
face with his hands, and slid down on his knees by
the sofa, where he remained, perhaps a minute, with
his head buried, praying, whilst his shoulders shook
with grief. I took him by the hand and raised
him up. “Come,” I said, “my
dear old fellow, summon all your fortitude. It
will be best and easiest for her.”

When we came into Lucy’s room I could see that
Van Helsing had, with his usual forethought, been
putting matters straight and making everything look
as pleasing as possible. He had even brushed
Lucy’s hair, so that it lay on the pillow in
its usual sunny ripples. When we came into the
room she opened her eyes, and seeing him, whispered
softly, “Arthur! Oh, my love, I am so glad
you have come!”

He was stooping to kiss her, when Van Helsing motioned
him back. “No,” he whispered, “not
yet! Hold her hand, it will comfort her more.”

So Arthur took her hand and knelt beside her, and
she looked her best, with all the soft lines matching
the angelic beauty of her eyes. Then gradually
her eyes closed, and she sank to sleep. For a
little bit her breast heaved softly, and her breath
came and went like a tired child’s.

And then insensibly there came the strange change
which I had noticed in the night. Her breathing
grew stertorous, the mouth opened, and the pale gums,
drawn back, made the teeth look longer and sharper
than ever. In a sort of sleep-waking, vague,
unconscious way she opened her eyes, which were now
dull and hard at once, and said in a soft, voluptuous
voice, such as I had never heard from her lips, “Arthur!
Oh, my love, I am so glad you have come! Kiss
me!”